The social media profile of calgaryherald.com hadn’t been this large since the provincial election last April, or the Royal Couple’s visit to Calgary in July 2011.

What event propelled our rise to prominence? A non-event.

I’m referring, of course, to the tempest in a teacup caused by a Michigan police officer who wrote a letter to the editor, published in our paper and online on Tuesday. Vacationing in Calgary during the Stampede, Walt Wawra described going for a walk at Nose Hill Park and being approached by two “gentlemen” who seemed to act in a threatening manner. Wawra wrote that he would have felt safer if Canadian laws allowed him to carry a handgun, like he could back home in Kalamazoo.

The letter went viral on the web starting on Tuesday, taking on a life of its own as the Twittersphere, blogosphere, alternative news media and mainstream media climbed aboard, exploring themes raised by the letter. The original letter on our site, and the follow-up stories, generated hundreds of comments from readers. The letter even generated its own Twitter hashtag, #nosehillgentlemen, cementing its place in online news history, if only for a few days. Even as I write this, on Saturday evening almost five days later, more commenters are wading in.

All this, yet Wawra and his wife weren’t harmed. There’s no particular problem with public safety at Nose Hill Park. Most Canadians seem content with existing laws around carrying handguns. Was this social media phenomenon just a big fuss about nothing, a waste of time? I don’t think so.

Our social media event had a humble birth. When the letter landed on the desk of Naomi Lakritz, the Herald’s letters editor and a member of the editorial board, she says she wasn’t in a hurry to publish it because she wanted to take the time to confirm the writer’s identity, a standard procedure. “I thought it was an interesting letter on a topic that’s never been covered on our letters pages before, and might bring in a handful of responses,” she says. “I wasn’t prepared for the way it took off.”

Nobody was prepared for the way it took off. When first published, it was featured prominently as the Letter of the Day on the Opinion page. First thing Tuesday morning, when we noticed it was attracting strong traffic, we added the file to our homepage, guaranteeing more readers would see it. We published links to the letter on Facebook and Twitter. Then we watched in amazement as comments rolled in like a thunderstorm, fueled by readers sharing the story on their networks.

Some of the web traffic coalesced around the ironic hashtag #nosehillgentlemen, coined by Calgary writer and blogger Chris Turner, who found himself doing interviews with mainstream media outlets looking for analysis of the social media phenomenon. “It was so absurd,” he said in a Global TV interview. “It seemed like a parody of an out-of-proportion reaction to a very mundane situation in a very peaceful park. Among other things, in a very kind of amusing way, it illustrates the fact that, you know, very rigorous gun control laws are not a bad thing for society.”

In the absence of actual news, what were people talking about? Most of the stories were simply about Wawra’s gun advocacy and reaction to that. One report, false but widely disseminated, claimed the strangers who approached Wawra were in fact Stampede promoters handing out free tickets or something. The tone of the discourse resembled the lively, everyday banter you might run into at a bar or coffee shop, rather than the serious, rational discussion of more formal news writing.

Some readers did jump right into the gun control debate. Don Lesko writes: “For the people who support the carrying of handguns in Canada, if you don’t like our laws move to the U.S. Then you too may become one of the 30,000 killed every year by guns in the U.S.”

Lots of folks were troubled by Wawra’s frame of mind. The word “paranoid” came up a lot. Sorry, Walt. Boomer78 said, “If obsessing over crime stats is your thing then check out Calgary Police Services crime stats website for Nose Hill. There were two incidences in the past SIX months, one for theft and the other for vandalism. There is a big difference from being aware and being paranoid to the extreme. As a regular walker on Nose Hill I resented the fear mongering in Mr. Wawra’s letter and to quote Franklin D. Roosevelt, ‘There is nothing to fear but fear itself.’”

There’s a measure of support for Walt from those who believe they have the right to protect themselves using weapons. Taking a shot at Canadian innocence, Buster Brown wrote, “I guess it is better to be a living, beaten-down, subservient liberal with no dignity than it is to stand up against the thugs and protect yourselves and family. So keep on smiling and trusting strangers at close encounters. I am sure that in another decade or so, your whole country will be violence-free and full of rainbows and unicorn milk.”

Most commenters, though, were horrified by Wawra’s suggestion. A. Rooney let ‘er rip: “Dear Officer Wawra: Please don’t visit Canada again. We don’t need or want people like you here. Your nation has accomplished many great things, yet has failed miserably around the globe to find support or to forge friendships. Why is that, officer? Maybe the answer lies in a little self-examination—personally, and as a nation. America was born out of violence. And throughout its history, the U.S. has been quick to wield its power, if not its weapons, to achieve ‘American interests.’ Using violence to resolve conflicts only generates fear. In Canada, officer Wawra, we don’t carry guns, and we don’t live in constant fear of strangers. We’ve moved beyond that, and we’re proud of this distinct difference between our two cultures. Next time, officer, please consider somewhere else for your vacation. We’ll all rest a little easier.”

Less serious, BLx said, “Americans don’t understand that we Canadians don’t settle our differences with guns, we use Kung-Fu.”

As the week wore on, I saw increasing comments criticizing the news media (us) for flogging the story beyond its expiry date. Woodrow79 wrote, “The Herald for some reason has promoted this story. They receive many letters from the public. It’s been three days of continuous articles and bait statements. It really must be a very slow week in Calgary. The Stampede is over.” Brian Anthony singled out social media in his critique: “Dear Herald, Give the poor schmuck a rest. Let him return to the well-deserved obscurity from whence he came. This non-story doesn’t have any legs, despite what you might think from all the noise you’ve generated in your so-called ‘Twitterverse.’

Wawra hit a cross-border nerve. As Lakritz pointed out, his remarks touched on one of the most significant differences between our two neighboring countries. Almost everyone has an opinion on gun control issues.

I think there’s a larger explanation for what gives stories like this life on the Internet: it’s social. Social media in this case provides readers with a way to explore their Canadian identity in an informal, everyday, lively, and good humoured (well, mostly) dialogue. Rereading the comments on our website, I see how they are funny, critical, reflective, angry, amused, offended, supportive, embarrassed, outraged, righteous, articulate, inarticulate, passionate, and bored. It’s an almost irresistible conversation, if you care about the hot button issue of public safety.

There’s social meaning in the chaotic, irreverent discussion this past week about gun control—even if there’s no solid news story at the heart of it. The American journalism educator and communication theorist James W. Carey argued that the media should move away from journalism as a science of information, and move toward a journalism of “poetry and conversation” (in The Mass Media and Democracy: Between the Modern and the Postmodern, p. 20). The sociologist Herbert J. Gans suggested (in The Changing Faces of Journalism, p. 24) that everyday, popular, less formal ways of telling news stories can have the effect of enlarging the news audience. Social media’s embrace of the #nosehillgentlemen story brings it to a larger audience, via a different discourse than what traditional news offers. Interestingly, Gans isn’t arguing that a serious discussion of news should stop—he’s just pointing out that a more popular treatment of the topic reaches more people.

By the end of the week, even some of my colleagues in the newsroom were getting sick of the story. They may have to hide somewhere. Wawra says he plans to write a second letter to clarify the Nose Hill incident.

Comments

We encourage all readers to share their views on our articles and blog posts. We are committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion, so we ask you to avoid personal attacks, and please keep your comments relevant and respectful. If you encounter a comment that is abusive, click the "X" in the upper right corner of the comment box to report spam or abuse. We are using Facebook commenting. Visit our FAQ page for more information.

Almost Done!

Postmedia wants to improve your reading experience as well as share the best deals and promotions from our advertisers with you. The information below will be used to optimize the content and make ads across the network more relevant to you. You can always change the information you share with us by editing your profile.

By clicking "Create Account", I hearby grant permission to Market to use my account information to create my account.

I also accept and agree to be bound by Postmedia's Terms and Conditions with respect to my use of the Site and I have read and understand Postmedia's Privacy Statement. I consent to the collection, use, maintenance, and disclosure of my information in accordance with the Postmedia's Privacy Policy.

Postmedia wants to improve your reading experience as well as share the best deals and promotions from our advertisers with you. The information below will be used to optimize the content and make ads across the network more relevant to you. You can always change the information you share with us by editing your profile.

By clicking "Create Account", I hearby grant permission to Postmedia to use my account information to create my account.

I also accept and agree to be bound by Postmedia's Terms and Conditions with respect to my use of the Site and I have read and understand Postmedia's Privacy Statement. I consent to the collection, use, maintenance, and disclosure of my information in accordance with the Postmedia's Privacy Policy.